Microsoft President Brad Smith and China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao met on Wednesday, December 6, to talk about artificial intelligence (AI) and trade ties between the United States and China, according to a notice from the Chinese government via a CNBC report.
As China seeks to revitalize its economy, the meeting highlights its efforts to demonstrate that it is still welcoming to American firms despite ongoing tensions with the US.
President of Microsoft Brad Smith speaks onstage during the 2018 Concordia Annual Summit - Day 1 at Grand Hyatt New York on September 24, 2018 in New York City.
Expected AI Collaboration
Smith and Wang's encounter is significant because it follows a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping last month, which many have seen as an attempt by the two countries to work together in potentially beneficial areas. Also, it was a message that they wanted to make things easier for international companies to do business.
A statement from the country's commerce ministry said that Wang, during the meeting, expressed China's commitment to improving services for foreign companies. According to the readout, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce is hoping that Microsoft would have a "constructive role" in the ongoing AI cooperation between the two nations.
This year, Microsoft allegedly invested multimillion dollars in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, further solidifying Microsoft's position as a frontrunner in the AI space.
Chinese technology behemoths like Tencent, Baidu, and Alibaba have also started releasing competing goods and AI models.
Continuing to promote economic and commercial cooperation between the US and China, Smith said that Microsoft is eager to take part in the digital revolution of the Chinese economy, as reported by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
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Efforts Amid Tech War
The US and China have been at odds over technology in recent years. US export restrictions have lately hit Nvidia processors, which are used to train AI models, as part of Washington's effort to limit Beijing's access to critical technology like semiconductors.
An official White House statement indicates that Biden and Xi discussed the importance of addressing the hazards associated with advanced AI systems and improving AI safety via US-China government negotiations during their meeting. A meeting between Smith and Wang seems to have been a reflection of that.
As tensions between Washington and Beijing have grown, meetings between the Chinese government and American IT companies have been less common in recent years. China also blocks services from companies like Google parent Alphabet and Facebook owner Meta, meaning that very few American tech firms operate in China.
China is the third-largest market for Apple, and CEO Tim Cook traveled there this year. Also, Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently visited China, the site of one of the electric carmaker's largest plants. This has occurred at about the same time as Beijing's efforts to attract international enterprises and the easing of travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022.
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